Wanderlei Silva, Mark Hunt, Takanori Gomi, the Saitama Super Arena — if you squint your eyes, maybe you can convince yourself that PRIDE, in fact, neva die. The UFC is back in Japan today with a crowd-pleasing lineup of battle-scarred legends, rising stars, and whatever you’d call Diego Sanchez and Brian Stann at this point. (“Reliable bangers”? Yeah, I guess that works.)

Taking us through the action is George Shunick, who will be stacking live results from the FUEL TV main card after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and share your own feelings in the comments section.

(If you haven’t already seen this video of TUF 10 castmember Justin Wren introducing his arm-hair and beard to a village of astounded children in the Congo, watch it, because it’s awesome. Props: Justin Wren on YouTube)

I’m confused, Potato Nation. You see, this morning I typed in “side effects of steroids” into Google, and took a look at roughly the first ten results. All of the common side effects were listed: Acne, man boobs, shrunken testicles, you know, the good stuff. Most of the websites even covered the long term effects: the aggression, the sterility, yadda yadda yadda. But not a one of those websites listed memory loss as a side effect, yet not a one of the MMA fighters who have been busted for the stuff in recent years seem to remember doing it.

I’ve always been extremely regimented with my diet and would not use anything that could harm my body or my performance inside the octagon. And it wasn’t different this time. I never had the intention to cheat. I’ve got almost 30 fights in my career, most of them in the UFC. I have been subjected to several surprise tests, and there was never anything wrong. Besides, I knew that I would be tested after the fight in Australia because it is standard in the UFC. I have a clear conscience, but accepted the punishment. The rules are there for everyone and must be followed.

I consulted with my doctor, and he will go over all food supplements used in my preparation for the fight and the test results. I want to know exactly what happened that made the testosterone rate unusual in my body.

In keeping with the theme of UFC on FUEL 8′s main card — which will feature such legends as Wanderlei Silva, Takanori Gomi, and Mark Hunt — Lombard and Okami also competed for PRIDE early in their careers. Lombard lost decisions to Akihiro Gono and Gegard Mousasi under the PRIDE Bushido banner in 2006, while Okami submitted Steve White via strikes (at PRIDE The Best Vol.3 in 2002) and outpointed Ryuta Sakurai (at PRIDE Bushido 2 in 2004). Video proof is after the jump.

Though Michael Bisping might argue that he and Vitor Belfort are the only two middleweights worth a damn at the moment, another savage knockout performance from Lombard could place him in the proverbial “mix.” Your predictions for this one, please.

“During the fight, my kick was working well. But soon in the first round, one of my kicks hit Lombard’s shin below his knee. I heard a snap, and I knew something bad happened. From that moment on, I [started] feeling my foot more and more numb and without strength to walk around the Octagon.”

In the main event, Ross Pearson looked good in his return to lightweight. His boxing proved to be too much for Sotiropoulos throughout the fight, as Pearson eventually scored the TKO in round three. Not a bad fight by any means, but not especially memorable, either. Sotiropoulos has now lost three straight, with his last victory being a submission over Joe Lauzon back in 2010. And Pearson? Well, he won. I was going to write that he reestablished his place in the lightweight division, but he was never more than a mid-tier fighter in arguably the UFC’s deepest talent pool in the first place.

This concern over the lack of significance in the division leads directly into the TUF Smashes finals. I’m not saying that the Smashes winners Norman Parke and Robert Whittaker looked bad last night, as they didn’t. Nor will I say that their fights were boring to sit through – I actually think Whittaker vs. Scott deserved Fight of the Night honors. Rather, I simply don’t see either fighter having any sort of relevant future in the UFC.

Also known as the TUF: The Smashes Finale, tonight’s UFC card is coming to you live from the Gold Coast, and will feature the season’s lightweight and welterweight finals. (Remember, these are the Brits and Aussies. The “Let Me Bang, Bro” cast gets its big send-off tomorrow in Vegas.)

Our own Matt Kaplan will be throwin’ down round-by-round results from the FX main card, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and if you’re watching along with us, please throw your own bullshit into the comments section.

(“I’m sorry, you were saying something about The Ultimate Fighter picking guys with silly gimmicks over those with actual talent nowadays?”)

Last weekend, the UFC dropped off one of the most stacked cards of the year in our lap for free. This weekend, not so much. Make no mistake, we will be treated to two, count ‘em two free fight cards this weekend, but both events will have to do a lot in the exciting finishes department to compensate for the lack of drawing power they posses, especially when compared to the bird-flipping, toothpick-chewing, f-bomb-dropping goodness that was UFC on FOX 5.

Kicking off the weekend’s action will be UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which kicks off live on FX via tape delay starting at 9 p.m. EST. Although it’s been dubbed a UFC on FX event, we might as well refer to it by what it truly is, the TUF: Smashes Finale, because in no other universe could you justify having two middle of the pack lightweights (or whatever Pearson is these days) coming off losses headline an FX card. The man in clown attire pictured above apparently made it all the way to the finals, which should either tell you that the UFC has completely given up on finding actual talent on TUF these days or that you should stop being so damn judgmental. Either way, I haven’t seen an episode of the show, which takes us to Saturday’s event…

Keeping with the tradition established in the last ten or so seasons of the American version of TUF, on Saturday we will be treated to a TUF Finale event that pits one of the show’s coaches against a complete outsider due to the other coach suffering an injury. There’s also the welterweight finals matchup between Colton Smith and Mike Ricci — two guys we’re sure you’re familiar with — so join us after the jump to get the inside scoop on the fights you might actually be interested in seeing this weekend.

In a new report about Eddie Alvarez’s impending free-agency, MMAFighting.com got Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney to share details of a similar situation in which his promotion got into a bidding war with the UFC. It happened six months ago with their former middleweight champ Hector Lombard, and in that case, it didn’t exactly work out for either party:

Lombard hit the open market, where he was immediately offered a lucrative deal with the UFC. Rebney said that contract, which according to him paid Lombard a $400,000 signing bonus, a $300,000 starting purse per fight and pay-per-view participation points, was cost-prohibitive from Bellator’s standpoint.

If the UFC came in with a similar offer for Alvarez, who is considered by most observers to be right around the top five lightweights in the world, it is believed that would make him the highest-paid 155-pounder in the UFC. On the other hand, Lombard’s debut in the UFC was considered a disappointment, as he lost a lackluster split-decision to Tim Boetsch. That development could cause the UFC to reconsider a big-money offer for another free agent.

With the UFC returning to Australia with UFC on FX 6 on December 14, the promotion is beginning to announce upcoming bouts. While the organization hasn’t announced a venue for said return yet, the card will be headlined by Hector Lombard attempting to redeem himself after his promotional debut at UFC 149, a completely forgettable three round sleeper against Tim Boetsch. The Cuban-born Australian has been given a second chance against none other than Brazilian leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares. In other words, he isn’t exactly being given a rebound fight.

We all know about the lofty expectations that Hector Lombard carried into the UFC as a Bellator middleweight champion who hasn’t lost in twenty five fights. While Lombard claims that he was too injured to have been fighting during his UFC 149 clash against Tim Boetsch, many fans were quick to jump off of the Lombard bandwagon after that performance. A loss to perennial almost-contender Rousimar Palhares – especially a boring loss to Paul Harris, if that’s possible – could be enough to send Lombard back to Bellator. Likewise, Palhares has built an impressive 7-3 record in the UFC, yet has choked in the fights that would separate him from the pack and potentially earn him a title shot. If Toquinho can’t secure one of Lombard’s legs, he may be permanently relegated to gatekeeper status. Not exactly a great spot for either guy to be in.

Also, UFC on FX 6 will feature the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes, including the fight between TUF: Smashes coaches George Sotiropoulos and Ross Pearson. You guys remember Smashes, right? British fighters squaring off against Aussies? The answer to the TUF ratings woes? An opportunity for comments sections across the internet to rant about cockiness and make “That’s not a _____, THIS is a _____!” jokes? Well, you have three months to get familiar with it.